Jewelry in ancient Egypt was more than mere adornment; it was a powerful symbol of status, religious belief, and protection. Both men and women of all social classes adorned themselves with a variety of jewelry, reflecting a deep appreciation for luxury and its significance in both life and the afterlife.
Tutankhamun's Death Mask, a testament to the exquisite craftsmanship of Egyptian goldsmiths.
The Significance of Gold
The ancient Egyptians greatly valued gold jewelry, which served as both a treasured personal adornment and a talisman of power favored by royals and nobles. To the ancient Egyptians, gold represented the flesh of the sun god Ra and symbolized eternal life. Nebu was an Egyptian symbol for gold and the hieroglyph was depicted by a golden collar with ends hanging off the sides and seven spines dangling from the middle.
Perhaps the moment that defined the rise in Egyptian jewelry was the discovery of gold. Golden jewelry became a status symbol in pre-dynastic Egypt. It was a symbol of power, religion, and status. It enabled it to before a greater focus for families of nobility, and royals. This created a larger demand for elaborate pieces.
Gold mining and metallurgy were established into an elaborate system over time, and ancient Egyptians established the foundations still employed in modern metalsmithing. By the time of the New Kingdom, the vast gold-mining enterprise was under royal command and monopoly and was run by a workforce comprising convicts and slaves.
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Goldsmiths hammered raw gold into sheets and used a variety of techniques to create finished products. Techniques were developed locally or borrowed from foreign cultures to turn this coveted metal into luxurious jewelry. Ancient Egyptians remained undeterred by the lack of purity of gold, as most relics including jewelry contained silver in some or significant amounts. Electrum, a naturally occurring gold-silver alloy that contains between 20 and 80 percent gold, was a valued material.
The Tomb of Tutankhamun: A Treasure Trove
The sensational discovery of the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun revealed the fabulous treasures that accompanied an Egyptian sovereign, both during his lifetime and after his death, as well as the high degree of mastery attained by Egyptian goldsmiths. This treasure is now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and represents the biggest collection of gold and jewelry in the world.
100 years ago, in 1922, Howard Carter exhumed the relatively intact tomb of Tutankhamun in a discovery that not just mesmerized academia but captivated the whole world. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of his discovery was the vast wealth and riches that accompanied Tutankhamun to the afterlife, as he was a relatively insignificant king. Burials of pharaohs that were more significant likely contained a wealth of unfathomable proportions that unfortunately succumbed to the looting that had already become rampant in antiquity.
The pharaoh’s innermost coffin was made entirely of gold, and the mummy was covered with a huge quantity of jewels. More jewels were found in cases and boxes in the other rooms of the tomb. The diadems, necklaces, pectorals, amulets, pendants, bracelets, earrings, and rings are of superb quality and of a high degree of refinement that has rarely been surpassed or even equaled in the history of jewelry.
The ornaments in Tutankhamun’s tomb are typical of all Egyptian jewelry. The perpetuation of iconographic and chromatic principles gave the jewelry of ancient Egypt-which long remained unchanged in spite of contact with other civilizations-a magnificent, solid homogeneity, infused and enriched by magical religious beliefs.
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Ornamentation is composed largely of symbols that have a precise name and meaning, with a form of expression that is closely linked to the symbology of hieroglyphic writing. The scarab, lotus flower, Isis knot, Horus eye, falcon, serpent, vulture, and sphinx are all motif symbols tied up with such religious cults as the cult of the pharaohs and the gods and the cult of the dead.
In Egyptian jewelry the use of gold is predominant, and it is generally complemented by the use of the three colours of carnelian, turquoise, and lapis lazuli or of vitreous pastes imitating them. Although there was a set, fairly limited repertoire of decorative motifs in all Egyptian jewelry, the artist-craftsmen created a wide variety of compositions, based mainly on strict symmetry or, in the jewelry made of beads, on the rhythmic repetition of shapes and colours.
Gold pectoral with semiprecious stones belonging to Sesostris III.
Jewelry Types and Materials
Various types of Egyptian jewelry were popular, including bracelets, earrings, collar pieces, anklets, armbands, and rings. Ancient jewelry is truly one-of-a-kind, offering a rare blend of history, artistry, and personal significance. Unlike modern pieces, ancient jewelry carries with it a story that spans centuries, often steeped in the rich cultural traditions of civilizations such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, or Rome.
The more lavish pieces of Egyptian jewelry were inlaid with semiprecious stones and various gems. The most prized stones were lapis lazuli, obsidian, garnet, rock crystal, and carnelian. Pearls and emeralds were the most commonly uses stones native to Egypt.
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Although, faience was also used commonly. This was made from ground quartz and then mixed with a colourant that was heated and then moulded to mimic more natural and expensive stones. The most popular of which was a blue-green shade made to imitate turquoise.
Perhaps the most iconic ornament from ancient Egypt is the wide collar necklace. It was generally made of beaded rows and shaped like flowers or animals. The collar was stretched over the wearer from breast to collarbone. It was also common for pendants to be strung on beaded necklaces, bearing an amulet of protection. Both men and women wore earrings, and rings were also popular for men and women.
Necklace beads-generally made of gold, stones, or glazed ceramic-are cylindrical, spherical, or in the shape of spindles or disks and are nearly always used in alternating colours and forms in many rows. The necklaces have two distinct main forms. One, called menat, was the exclusive attribute of divinity and was therefore worn only by the pharaohs. Tutankhamun’s menat is a long necklace composed of many rows of beads in different shapes and colours, with a pendant and with a decorated fastening that hung down behind the shoulders.
The other, much more widely used throughout the whole period, was the usekh, which, like the vulture-shaped necklace from the tomb of Tutankhamun, also has many rows and a semicircular form.
Of the many diadems made by Egyptian artist-craftsmen, one of the earliest was discovered in a tomb dating from the 4th dynasty. It consists of a gold band supported by another band made of copper, to which three decorative designs are applied. In the centre is a disk worked with embossing in the form of four lotus buds arranged radially. On the sides are two papyrus flowers linked horizontally at the base by a disk with a carnelian, while the upper line of the flowers comes together to create a kind of nest in which two long-beaked ibis crouch.
Among the treasures discovered in the tomb of Queen Ashhotep is a typical Egyptian bracelet. It is rigid and can be opened by means of a hinge. The front part is decorated with a vulture, whose outspread wings cover the front half of the bracelet. The whole figure of the bird is inlaid with lapis lazuli, carnelian, and vitreous paste. A first sign of outside influence occurs in the 18th dynasty and consists of earrings, which are imported jewels, unknown in classical Egyptian production.
Amulets and Their Significance
Protective amulets could be worn as independent pieces, but they were often fused into Egyptian jewelry. These amulets were talismans or charms that were believed to either infuse the amulet with power, or to protect the wearer. The amulets were carved into various shapes and forms, including symbols, humans, animals, and gods. Additionally, the amulets were seen as equally significant protectors of the living and the dead. Amulets were made specifically for the afterlife, as memorial jewelry was customary for ancient Egypt.
Archaeologists have garnered knowledge about the culture through excavation tombs. Among the artifacts were everyday objects, as well as jewelry. Their clothing was relatively plain, however Egyptian jewelry was incredibly ornate. Every ancient Egyptian owned jewelry, regardless of gender or class. The ornaments included heart scarabs, lucky charms, bracelets, beaded necklaces, and rings. For noble Egyptians, like queens and pharaohs, the Egyptian jewelry was made from precious metals, minerals, gems, and coloured glass. While others wore, jewelry made from rocks, bones, clay, animal teeth, and shells.
Heart Scarabs were common types of funerary amulets. They were sometimes heart-shaped, however, generally beetle or oval shaped. They got their name because the amulet was placed over the heart before burial. The belief was that it counteracted the heart’s separation from the body in the afterlife. The heart chronicled a person’s actions through life, according to Egyptian mythology. In death, the dead would meet the god Anubis, who would perform judgement in the Weighing of the Heart Ceremony.
Beaded necklaces were also popular amongst Egyptian jewelry. These necklaces often featured amulets and charms, and were made from varying sizes and shapes of beads. The beads were made from minerals, semi-precious stones, clay, and glass.
Egyptians were deep believers in jewelry’s spiritual significance. It was worn to ward off evil spirits, protect their health, as well as bring good luck. Certain colours, designs, and materials were associated with supernatural powers and deities. Carnelian, for example, is an orange-red stone which was suggestive of blood- this infused an ornament with potency and energy.
The Colors of Gemstones
They placed great emphasis on the color of their jewelry and gemstones, as certain colors were thought to provide protection from evil and good fortune. Turquoise is another opaque gemstone that the Egyptians favored. The color was chosen to represent joy, cleanliness, and pleasure, and it is similar to that of the tropical sea. Locals near the Red Sea mined emeralds. Until the 16th century, Egypt had a monopoly on emeralds.
Each Egyptian jewelry gemstone's color had a different meaning for the ancients, and some of those meanings still affect modern jewelry lovers shopping preferences today. Emeralds were associated with fertility, immortality, rejuvenation, and eternal spring, and were the most highly prized gemstones in the region and beyond for centuries.
The Egyptians did not make great use of diamonds because they really knew nothing about them. The majority of the raw materials used to make jewelry were found in or near Egypt, but some valuable stones, such as lapis lazuli, were imported from as far as Afghanistan.
Jewelry as a Reflection of Society
A string of beads from the Middle Kingdom, Dahshur.
Ancient Egypt is often described as a relatively stratified society. However, one element available to every Egyptian - from the youngest child to oldest priest, from the poorest farmer to pharaoh - was jewelry. From the predynastic through Roman times, jewelry was made, worn, offered, gifted, buried, stolen, appreciated and lost across genders, generations and classes.
Most Egyptians wore some type of jewelry during their lifetimes, and almost every Egyptian was buried with some form of adornment. The materials chosen and the quality of workmanship often marked the status of the owner or wearer. The elaborate gold masks and inlaid pectorals of the 21st and 22nd-dynasty kings of Tanis and the intricate Middle Kingdom princess girdles and bracelets from their burials at Lahun and Dashur were of far different quality than a simple strung clay bead found in a poor individual’s burial. Regardless of quality, these were objects of display, protection and power.
Jewelry was both decorative and purposeful. One bead may reveal much, especially if archaeological context is known. For example, glass and glazed objects often produce visible bubbles; if a bead’s piercing shows signs of wear, it probably was worn and displayed before final deposit in a burial.
Color and material were significant, protecting the living from disease and danger and, wrapped within a mummy’s bandages, guarding the deceased for eternity. The Book of the Dead, the famed New Kingdom funerary document, prescribes specific materials for certain amulets and often detailed where on the body to include them. Chapter 156 called for red jasper for the girdle tie of the goddess Isis, which was placed on the throat of the mummy. Chapters 159 and 160 assigned green feldspar for papyrus amulets, and Chapter 30 prescribed what is believed to be green jasper for the heart scarab.
Kings bestowed favor and military honors through jewelry. Based on excavated examples from Nubia, pierced and polished oyster shells inscribed with the cartouche of King Senwosret I were probably worn by soldiers in the Middle Kingdom. In the 18th dynasty, fly-shaped “Golden Fly” pendants or “The Order of the Golden Fly” were given as military rewards. Three large gold flies were found in the burial assemblage of Queen Aahhotep, mother of 17th-dynasty King Ahmose and grandmother of King Amenhotep I, the founder of the 18th dynasty.
While kings usually bestowed gold flies and shebyu necklaces during prosperous or victorious times, jewelry types can also reveal information about less stable political and economic situations. Jewelry is small, transportable, often valuable and was thus usually the first item to be snatched during tomb robberies, particularly in antiquity.
Third Intermediate Period openwork faience spacer beads include complex designs, which demonstrate exquisite skill. These were made during a period traditionally dismissed as declining and even chaotic politically and socially. But these beads suggest a different narrative. The royal and religious themes of these beads were once reserved for temple walls, and this change of medium demonstrates a change in religious beliefs - or at least in religious decorum.
Throughout ancient Egypt, jewelry was offered at temples, buried in tombs, stolen from mummies, presented as gifts and rewards, and worn to the temple and tomb, as well as to the marketplace.
Treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb (4K HDR)
The Influence of Foreign Styles
Another evidence of the influence of foreign styles in some of the jewelry of the 18th dynasty is a headdress that covered nearly all of the hair, made of a network of rosette-shaped gold disks forming a real fabric (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City). Foreign influence increased to an ever greater extent during the last dynasties and with the arrival of the Greeks. Like all other forms of artistic expression, in spite of three centuries of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the great artistic tradition of Egyptian jewelry slowly died out, notably with the introduction first of Hellenism and then of the Romans.
Comparison with Other Ancient Civilizations
Minoan-Mycenaean Jewelry
The Bronze Age civilization that flourished on the Mediterranean island of Crete is known as the Minoan. Because Crete lay near the coasts of Asia, Africa, and the Greek continent and because it was the seat of prosperous ancient civilizations and a necessary point of passage along important sea trading routes, the Minoan civilization developed a level of wealth which, beginning about 2000 bce, stimulated intense gold-working activities of high aesthetic value. From Crete this art spread out to the Cyclades, Peloponnesus, Mycenae, and other Greek island and mainland centres.
Gold funerary mask of an unknown Mycenaean ruler, named the Mask of Agamemnon.
Stimulated by Minoan influence, Mycenaean art flourished from the 16th to the 14th century, gradually declining at the beginning of the 1st millennium bce. Among the techniques used in Minoan-Mycenaean gold working were granulation and filigree, but the most widely used was the cutting and stamping of gold sheet into beads and other designs to form necklaces and diadems, as well as to decorate clothing. The kings from Period I of Mycenaean civilization, discovered in their burial places, wore masks of gold sheet, and scattered over their clothing were dozens of stamped gold disks.
The disks reveal the rich variety of decorative motifs used by the Mycenaeans: round, rectangular, ribbon-shaped-including combinations of volutes, flowers, stylized polyps and butterflies, rosettes, birds, and sphinxes.
Minoan gold pendant of bees encircling the Sun.
A pendant from a Minoan tomb at Mallia, Crete, is one of the most perfect masterpieces of jewelry that has come down to us from the 17th century bce. The Sun’s disk is covered with granulation and is held up by two bees, forming the central part of the composition. Ring bezels, with relief engravings of highly animated pastoral scenes, cults, hunting, and war, are also fine.
Like those of the other jewelry forms, the ornamental motifs of the necklaces are varied, including dates, pomegranates, half-moons facing each other, lotus flowers, and a hand squeezing a woman’s breast. During the late Mycenaean period, earrings appeared in the shape of the head of a bull, an animal frequently represented in early gold plate.
In addition to gold working, Minoan-Mycenaean craftsmen also excelled at engraving gemstones for seals and rings.
Phoenician Jewelry
Phoenicia was a centre for both the production and exportation of jewelry, and it is to the trading done by this people throughout the Mediterranean that we owe knowledge of the products of civilizations in the most remote lands-northern Africa, Sardinia, Spain, and Italy. The period in the 8th and 7th centuries bce, during which Scythian-Iranian objects with their animalistic motifs were spread and consequently imitated throughout the Mediterranean countries, especially in Greece and Italy, is called the Orientalizing period.
The quality and craftsmanship of the ornaments were an indication of the status and social standing of the wearer, and gold jewelry was highly sought after, serving as both a valued personal adornment and a talisman of power favored by royals and nobles of ancient Egyptian society.
Throughout the 30 centuries of ancient Egyptian civilization, there was a common appreciation of jewelry among both men and women of all classes in the Egyptian community. Most Egyptians wore some form of jewelry and were also buried with their ornaments for the afterlife.
| Civilization | Materials | Motifs | Techniques |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient Egypt | Gold, carnelian, turquoise, lapis lazuli, vitreous pastes | Scarab, lotus flower, Horus eye, falcon, serpent, vulture, sphinx | Hammering, inlaying, beadwork |
| Minoan-Mycenaean | Gold, gemstones | Volutes, flowers, stylized polyps, butterflies, rosettes, birds, sphinxes | Granulation, filigree, cutting and stamping gold sheet |
| Phoenician | Various, due to extensive trade | Animalistic motifs (Orientalizing period) | Production and exportation |
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